IPL 2023: Dasun Shanaka To Replace Injured Kane Williamson For Gujarat Titans
New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s star all-rounder Dasun Shanaka will be replacing the injured Kane Williamson for Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. This will be his first stint in the cash-rich league.
Sri Lanka’s limited-over skipper impressed a lot of players during the recent three-match T20I series against Team India. The star all-rounder went unsold in the IPL mini-auction and the series happened after the auction. So for a while, Shanaka’s absence from IPL was the talk 0f the town. However, there were speculations that Shanaka might get his opportunity as a replacement player.
Shanaka has played 181 T20s and has scored 3702 runs with an impressive strike rate of 141.94 and has taken 59 wickets with an astonishing 8.8 economy. Shanka not only has an impressive resume but he possesses skills of both anchoring the innings and providing an explosive finish. He scored 124 runs with a blazing strike rate of 187.87 during recent Sri Lanka’s three T20Is against India in January.
During the opening match of IPL 2023 between GT and CSK, When Williamson attempted to take a catch at the deep square leg boundary in the 13th over of CSK’s innings, Williamson landed awkwardly, buckling his right knee under his weight. He had jumped to capture a ball going for six off Ruturaj Gaikwad’s bat. By palming the ball back into the field before it hit the boundary boards, Williamson saved two runs but injured his knee.
He did not continue to participate in the game despite receiving treatment for some time. Williamson has since returned to New Zealand for his knee injury’s further evaluation and treatment.
Gujarat Titans Updates Squad
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Jayant Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Srikar Bharat, Abhinav Manohar, Pradeep Sangwan, Matthew Wade, Odean Smith, David Miller, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Shivam Mavi, Darshan Nalkande, Urvil Patel, Dasun Shanaka